


Diamonds Aren't a Man's Best Friend

by NachtGraves



Series: Tumblr Prompts [7]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Misunderstanding, Tumblr Prompt, the media likes to blow things out of proportion, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 01:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11220078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NachtGraves/pseuds/NachtGraves
Summary: Yuuri wakes up to an article tweeted at him by thousands of people.





	Diamonds Aren't a Man's Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> The title is courtesy of my roommate. And if she is reading this: no, stop, go away.
> 
> Prompt: diamond
> 
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://nachtgraves.tumblr.com)

Yuuri wakes up to an article tweeted at him by thousands of people. For a moment, he panics, wondering what he’s done in the last day or so to garner a tabloid article that is trending on Twitter as well as Facebook. Groggy and jet lagged in Victor’s guest room – the Russian was very vocally against Yuuri staying in a hotel and Yuuri only bent enough to take the guest room during his visit, equal parts training and a short vacation between competitions for the season – Yuuri is only somewhat relieved when he sees that the article is not about him. He instead grows anxious and flustered.

> _**Five World Champion Medals, Five Grand Prix Medals, and Potential Wedding Bells?** _
> 
> Last night, five time Grand Prix winner, Victor Nikiforov was seen entering a high-end jewelry store. The retired figure skater-turned-coach of Russia’s Yuri Plisetsky remained in the store for more than an hour, sources say. He left the store with a small bag. According to our source, he was looking into diamonds.
> 
> In the last few years there has been speculation about Nikiforov’s relationships. As a private man, there has been little information about any lovers, but there is a certain Japanese skater who seems to have held his attention for the past few years. Though there is nothing official between ex-coach and student, maybe an announcement is going to be made in the near future? Or so certain fans are hoping.

The article goes on to delve in more speculations and rumors about Victor and the unnamed ex-student, and Yuuri really doesn’t understand why they didn’t just use his name since they have described and detailed everything else about him.

There are related tweets and replies with people asking both him and Victor if it’s true, if they are actually a couple and if Victor is planning on proposing. Victor’s asked about what kind of ring he’s thinking of buying, if it really is for Yuuri or if he’s got another secret lover. They ask Yuuri how he feels about what he thinks of being proposed to, if he’s been expecting it or if the tabloids ruined the surprise. They ask if he’ll say yes.

And then there’s the hateful comments, with vulgar language and a complete disregard for grammar and punctuation. They sting, but he’s gotten better about his lack of self-confidence – his friends and family and Victor having his back and slapping him upside the head when he relapses. He still feels that prick of doubt every once in a while, fueled by hurtful comments from the media and but here he just feels anger. Yuuri can handle derogatory words and crude insults aimed at him, to a degree, but when he reads more and more tweets and retweets and replies that insult Victor and branch off into wild exaggerated lies about Phichit and Chris and Yurio, all Yuuri feels is a growing anger.

He closes out of Twitter and tosses his phone onto the pillows of Victor’s guest bed, stomping to the bathroom to cool down. After he’s brushes his teeth and gone through the daily morning motions, his ire has leveled out to a low simmer beneath the surface. Stepping out into the living room of Victor’s apartment and smelling coffee coming from the kitchen, hearing someone moving around clanking glass and humming, smothers the last of his anger.

“Morning,” Yuuri calls out, coming around to the kitchen to see Victor, soft and disheveled in sweatpants and a tee-shirt. The Russian has a mug of coffee in hand and another sitting on the counter by a plate of fresh toast.

Victor responds in kind with Russian and holds out Yuuri’s coffee. “Sleep well?”

Yuuri nods. Sleeping was fine, it was when he woke up that things turned a bit sour. He sips his coffee and hesitates on bringing up what he woke up to. Victor seems relaxed and carefree and Yuuri doesn’t want to be the one to ruin that. But he also doesn’t want Victor to be taken by surprise when he heads out and gets accosted by someone who recognizes him or reporters that are hovering by the entrance to the apartment building.

“So, uh,” Yuuri starts, but he doesn’t know how to continue. The gold ring on his finger, the promise from those few years ago, clinks against the mug in his hands. Victor’s stands out against the marble top where he’s resting his hand and supporting his weight.

Victor cocks his head to the side. “Something wrong?”

“No, uh, yes, kind of…” Yuuri trails. His gaze fixes on Victor’s ring and all he can think about is if it’s true. If Victor really was looking at diamond rings last night when he had gone out. Victor had told Yuuri he was just doing some errands and Yuuri had been exhausted enough from his day of training to fall asleep before Victor even came back. Even through his exhaustion-addled memory, Yuuri doesn’t recall Victor acting any different than usual then, but he was also at the point of falling asleep standing and much of the prior evening is a blur.

While Yuuri’s thinking of a way to go about the whole _did you buy me an engagement ring last night?_ thing, Victor, with a concerned frown on his face, comes to Yuuri who steps back in surprise and presses himself against the kitchen island. Victor stops just mere inches from Yuuri at a distance that is on the cusp between friendly and intimate.

“Is this about the articles this morning?” Victor questions and Yuuri heaves a sigh of relief at not having to bring it up, even though he’s still anxious about actually talking about it. He settles for nodding sheepishly into his mug, both afraid and a little excited about Victor’s explanation. He can’t get over the idea of there being a diamond ring that would fit his finger.

Victor releases a deep breath, but he’s smiling so Yuuri’s fears lessen. The Russian runs his free hand through his hair as he grumbles, “A man can’t go and look at some jewelry, I swear.”

“Well,” Yuuri interrupts, “you’re not just anyone, Victor.”

The man narrows his eyes at the interruption, but Yuuri doesn’t miss the pleased gleam in Victor’s eyes as the other man’s lips twitch in their effort to not smile.

“Regardless,” Victor continues, “I was just popping in to have a look and if I bought something, that’s mine and whoever I’m buying the gift for’s business.”

Yuuri looks down at some point between his and Victor’s feet, the cooling mug of coffee in his hands at the edge of his vision. “Oh. Yeah.”

Victor sighs in front of Yuuri. “Oh Yuuri.” A hand cups his chin and tilts his face up so he’s eye-to-eye with Victor who’s giving him a knowing smile that’s soft at the edges. “I was looking for a diamond pendant for Lilia for her birthday and ended up getting something custom made that I can pick up next week or so.”

Yuuri flushes. He feels indescribably stupid for his assumptions and silly hopes. “Oh, ha, she’ll love that.”

Victor’s smile turns sharp and there’s a playful twist to the wrinkles by his eyes. “Hmm, I hope so, or I’ll never hear the end of it. But, I didn’t leave completely empty handed last night.”

Yuuri frowns but remembers the article, where it mentioned that Victor had left the store with a small bag and his heart skidded over a beat before thumping frantically in a cacophony of anxiety, nervousness, and anticipation. “Oh?” His voice hiccupped through at least three changes in pitch and tone.

Victor is positively grinning at this point, but there’s a shadow that flickers across his expression that Yuuri has come to learn is doubt – something his younger self didn’t think someone like Victor could ever feel.

“Wait here.” And then his former coach is leaving the kitchen with hurried steps, disappearing into his bedroom. Yuuri’s more stunned than anything and so is in the exact same position and place when Victor returns with a small, glossy black bag with gold script advertising the store from where it came from. He holds the box out to Yuuri who’s trying to focus on breathing in and out and in and out and—

“Yuuri, breathe,” Victor says, like that isn’t what Yuuri’s putting all his energy and focus into doing. The bag is set down to the side and Yuuri hands his mug to Victor as the Russian tries to bring Yuuri back from the verge of hyperventilation.

When Yuuri is breathing at a regulated and normal pace, Victor laughs and shakes his head. “I just wanted to give you a present, not send you into an anxiety attack.”

Yuuri flushes and can’t bring himself to look at Victor, crossing his arms around his chest and sulking. “Sorry. You know what they’ve been writing about and saying online about…things.”

“Yes,” Victor nods, and picks up the bag again, but doesn’t add anything else. He just holds the bag as an offering that Yuuri takes with considerable levels of trepidation and embarrassment at his initial reaction to the bag.

Yuuri opens the bag and amid unnecessary decorative tissue paper is a small, black velvet box. Yuuri’s heart stops but he realizes that the box is a bit too long to be a ring box and his pulse settles into a slightly less rushed rhythm.

“Victor…?” He looks up but Victor just smiles with his mouth closed and seems to be barely holding back from bouncing in place from his anticipation that leaks through to Yuuri and really doesn’t help with Yuuri’s maelstrom of emotions.

Yuuri sets the bag down and opens the jewelry box. He’s surprised by the relief he feels at it not being a ring, but he does also feel that pinch of disappointment. In the box is a pendant, a gold-brown gem roughly cut into a long rectangular prism.

“It’s topaz, imperial topaz,” Victor says. “We’re both going to be busy when your birthday comes around this year and when I saw this, I knew I had to get it for you. It would have been a surprise, but, well, the media likes to be an inconvenience.” The Russian finishes with a shrugs but Yuuri is too focused on the pendant resting in the white padding of the box. He eases the pendant out of the casing and with it comes a thin gold chain.

“It’s beautiful, Victor,” Yuuri says finally, beaming up at his retired mentor.

Victor reaches for the chain and Yuuri turns around and tilts his head. The chain comes around his head and the topaz pendant settles against his sternum.

As Victor finishes clasping the necklace back around Yuuri’s neck, he leans forward and Yuuri squeaks as a shudder runs down his spine at the feel of lips grazing against his ear. “I’ll get you a ring when you win gold at the Olympics.”

It takes Yuuri a second for the words to process before he’s whirling around only to see Victor halfway across the room. “ _Victor!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: the imperial topaz was a favored gem of Russian czars, just sayin'.


End file.
